News and Insights
Reddit for marketers
July 31, 2019
MintTwist podcast – Reddit for marketers
One of the platforms that is heavily under utilised by marketers is Reddit – a discussion-style website with over 130,000 active communities.
The communities or Subreddits are very diverse with even the smallest of niches having its own Subreddit.
Reddit was created in 2005 and to this day it has over 300 million registered users and has huge potential for marketers, which we decided to look into this in more details in this article.
How does Reddit work?
When you sign up to Reddit, you can begin subscribing to various communities.
With an account, you can post content, comment, upvote/downvote and message other users.
Karma is a big term on Reddit, and the more upvotes your comments/posts have, the more karma you will get. You can check a user’s karma by moving your mouse over their username, which is displayed as ‘u/USERNAME’.
Each Subreddit you join will have its own rules and regulations about the content that is allowed. Make sure you follow these rules to avoid getting banned.
The main uses of Reddit for marketers are research, promotions and relationships.
Research
As a marketer, so much information about your niche can be found on Reddit.
In the image above, a search for ‘digital marketing’ gave three different Subreddits about digital marketing, all of which have around 30,000 members.
You can join these communities and see what the latest and trending posts are, keeping you updated with the latest developments.
Below the relevant communities, there is an infinite scroll of posts, with the filter being to any related posts from all time.
You can change the filters to see more recent posts, or posts that have generated a lot of upvotes.
If you are using Reddit for researching your industry, filtering the newest posts can give you topic ideas and can be the root of fresh content for your website.
Promotions
First of all, if you’re thinking about posting links to your content on other people’s post just for the sake of it – don’t.
Promoting your content on Reddit is possible, but it has to be done strategically.
If someone has posted a question on a Subreddit and you have content on your website that can help provide more information, then by all means mention it.
Although, don’t just link to your website. Provide value in the comments and give some kind of answer before you start linking to your content.
The reason for this, is that often if someone comments purely with a link, that post may get deleted or you may be banned from the Subreddit for spamming.
If you provide a cohesive and thorough answer to someone’s question, whilst managing to link to your content (if it has added value), you may get a lot more upvotes, and therefore more karma.
If you’ve posted a link to your website and it has many upvotes, the link will turn into dofollow, giving strong ‘link-juice’ from a very authoritative domain that Reddit is.
Relationships
Reddit is an amazing platform to connect with like-minded individuals.
Once you become an established member of a Subreddit, you will start to notice the same people engaging and posting content.
Use this as an opportunity to reach out to new people via direct messaging, whereby you can ask questions or build solid relationships that can potentially lead to business opportunities.
An easy way to do this is if you’ve posted about a topic that you’re an expert in, check for comments on that post, and whoever seems to be intrigued about your work can either reach out to you or vice versa.
You may find that someone is looking for your expertise and wants to hire you for some work.
Be active
Reddit is a website that thrives on active members of their communities.
If you’re inactive on Reddit, you won’t generate karma as fast, which leads to your efforts being put to waste.
An active Reddit user doesn’t have to be on the platform 24 hours a day, but it’s always best to check your favourite communities a couple of times a day to see new content and engage with other people’s posts.
Being active will help you become recognised in your communities, often resulting in more karma and making it easier to build relationships and share your content.
How can I post a link that increases traffic?
There are certain things that you can do if you want to generate more traffic:
- Find the right Subreddit – First, look at what is being shared on Reddit. Is it similar to your content? If the answer is yes, you have found the right path.
- Post your link early in the morning – Links that have been posted between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. (EST) are more likely to perform better, as they will be in the first positions. When people from this time zone wake up, the first thing they will see will be your link.
- Work on the quality of what you are sharing – The more quality your content has, the more opportunities it will get to reach your traffic goals. Do not concentrate on promoting a product, just focus on sharing good content that catches the attention of the public.
- Be transparent – If Reddit’s community finds out that you are not transparent, your content will not do well.
- Duplicate the content that is doing good on Reddit – Keep in mind that this does not mean that you are copying the content that is already there. What you will do is identify that content and make it x10 times better!
Consider an AMA
AMA stands for Ask Me Anything, which is a thread of questions presented by someone who states “My name is x, ask me anything”. Therefore, the community will respond to those questions if they are in the right mood. This can be performed by anyone who is looking to tell an interesting story, such as this person who have custody of his/her brother and sister.
New Trending Takeover: Increase your brand’s visibility
Takeovers are a fantastic opportunity for those businesses that are looking to promote their brand. The Trending Takeover ad gives advertisers a wide access to those Reddit users who want to collect data. This option is active for twenty-four hours and is located alongside popular trends and conversations of the day. This option is available both on desktop and mobile versions.
Moreover, with this option you can access to relevant landing pages fulfilled with paid promotional content plus conversations from related Subreddits that are relevant to the keywords that the advertiser has used.
Cool feature #1 – Reddit Premium
Users who pay $5.99 a month for Reddit Premium gain these benefits:
- Browse Reddit ad-free
- Receive 1,000 Reddit Coins initially, then 700 Reddit Coins each month.
- Access the exclusive Subreddit; /r/lounge.
- Premium Badge on your profile page.
You may think it’s a bit of a gimmick, however the second cool feature will show you how marketers can help better promote their content.
Cool feature #2 – Reddit Coins
Reddit’s own virtual currency can be bought or earned monthly by being a Premium member.
Coins can be spent on awards, which give an award badge next to the comment or post of another user.
Silver Award
- Use: Shows a silver badge next to comment or submission.
- Cost: 100 Reddit Coins.
Gold Award
- Use: Shows a gold badge next to comment or submission and gives user one week use of Reddit Premium for free.
- Cost: 500 Reddit Coins.
Platinum Award
- Use: Shows a platinum badge next to comment or submission and gives user 700 Reddit Coins + one month of Reddit Premium for free.
- Cost: 1800 Reddit Coins.
Reddit Coins for marketing
If you find that a user has submitted a post that features your content, consider giving them an award. This can increase the engagement and popularity of the post, as well as incentivising the user to share your content again in the future.
Consider giving awards to users that participate within your campaigns/submissions. They will value it and you might end up with strong business links within your Subreddits.
Conclusion
Reddit has huge potential and can help your business target the right communities, and get your messages out to those who care about your products and services.
Once again, be sure to check the rules of the Subreddits you want to post on, and you’ll start racking up karma in no time!